Of Interest

The New York Times ran a long piece on Stephen Sondheim revival fever this week.

Among the quotes from Sondheim in the story:

“I’ve reached an age where I’m two generations past when I was considered avant-garde. I went right from avant-garde to being old hat in five minutes, and you start to feel superannuated,” he said. “With every new generation, popular art changes. Already there’s a generation that thinks the Beatles are old-fashioned, which I find screamingly funny. The same thing is true of plays and musicals. People need things loud and fast. That’s one of the things that I like about ‘Little Night Music.’ The musical says: Slow down. Slow down and think.”

I can’t recall Sondheim appearing on campus at any point in the last few decades (correct me if I’m mistaken …). That is about to change when Frank Rich interviews Sondheim at Chapin Hall on January 23. What an amazing opportunity to see, in person, arguably the most famous living Eph alum, and the greatest musical composer of his (or any?) generation …

I keep waiting for Jason Howland ’93, whose show Little Women made it to Broadway but who has since been relatively quiet, to follow in Sondheim’s enormous footsteps. Howland wrote and produced two AMAZING musicals while an undergrad at Williams. Supremely talented guy.